Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Policymakers generally agree on the need to rebuild America's infrastructure. But the country is far behind in this area. Why? Transportation projects take time and money. And it's hard to predict how a project will affect its surroundings.

This study develops a framework for long-term U.S. Air Force (USAF) posture planning that accounts for drivers of USAF posture and identifies steps the USAF can take to increase posture robustness and agility over the 30-year planning period.

RAND Europe is supporting the Brazilian Logistics Investment Programme by delivering a roadmap to the Brazilian Ministries of Planning and Finance in logistics infrastructure investments. The purpose is to assess the current regulatory framework and encourage reform to enable greater participation of private investment.

Why don't American companies invest more in computer security? One possible explanation: Relative to the other risks they face, cyber risks often aren't as significant as expected. Most breaches cost companies less than 0.4 percent of their annual revenues.

The Arctic is more accessible than it once was, but it's still a formidable place to travel. An emergency involving a cruise ship or a downed plane could stress the search-and-rescue system. But modest investments and planning measures can make a big difference.

Data breaches have made headlines in recent years, exposing poor practices that put the personal information of millions of consumers at risk. But the cost of a typical cyber breach is much less than generally estimated, providing one possible explanation for why American companies do not invest more to improve computer security.

Until recently, infrastructure engineers could use data on past weather to predict future climate. But this is no longer an option. More and more, engineers must consider the effects of climate change. Failure to do so would threaten public safety.

Rio will spend $14.4 billion on the Olympics. Like other host cities, it hopes to achieve an “Olympic legacy” to ensure that this investment pays dividends after the games and provides long-term economic, social, sporting, and cultural benefits.

The first reported fatality in a self-driving vehicle is a chilling reminder that the evolving relationship with increasingly robotic motor vehicles needs to be a partnership, an undertaking with humans and machines managing the risks.

The first known fatality in an autonomous vehicle occurred on May 7 and raises important questions. It does not, however, mean that self-driving cars are less safe than human drivers or that development of the technology should be stopped.

This report serves as the technical documentation and reference document for the data, methods, and analytic approach used in the analysis of national exposures to infrastructure from natural disasters.

Exposure to natural hazards such as flooding, drought, and wildfires is projected to be larger and more uncertain in the future because of the effects of sea level rise and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns.

The Istanbul attack will renew calls to extend security screening at the front doors of terminals. But checkpoints create bottlenecks and queues of people waiting to get through them, which then become an easy target.

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Researcher Spotlight

Adjunct Principal Researcher

Martin Wachs is an adjunct principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and distinguished professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he directed the Institute of Transportation Studies and the…

Principal Researcher

Debra Knopman is a principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She served as vice president and director of RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (later Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment) from 2004 to 2014.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.